Movie Moguls Throw Obama Fundraiser

WASHINGTON (January 25, 2007) — Hollywood moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen are throwing a fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign next month, evidence of cracks in the entertainment industry’s allegiance to the Clintons.

Some 700 invitations to the $2,300-per-head shindig at the Beverly Hilton Hotel went out this week, Andy Spahn, political adviser to Katzenberg and Spielberg, said Thursday. Katzenberg, Spielberg and Geffen are the founders of the DreamWorks movie studio.

Katzenberg has endorsed Obama, D-Ill., but Spielberg, a longtime supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, hasn’t made up his mind, Spahn said. Geffen also has not publicly endorsed a candidate.

“There are many people in this community who will support multiple candidates, but this certainly is evidence of the serious credibility and strength of Obama’s candidacy,” said Spahn, rejecting the suggestion the fundraiser was a slight to Clinton.

The Feb. 20 event will be followed by a private dinner at Geffen’s house for donors who’ve committed to raising $46,000.

Spielberg and other heavyweight Los Angeles donors, including producer Steve Bing, media mogul Haim Saban, supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and investment banker Sim Farar will be co-hosting a fundraiser for Clinton in the spring, according to her spokesman, Phil Singer.

As president, Bill Clinton had a famously affectionate relationship with Hollywood, and the good will — and deep pockets — transferred to Hillary Clinton in her Senate races. Celebrities like Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Lopez and Chris Rock donated to her Senate races in 2000 and 2006.

Singer didn’t comment directly on the Obama event.

“The response to Sen. Clinton’s announcement from throughout the country has been extraordinary,” he said by e-mail. “We’re confident we’re going to raise the resources we need to mount a winning and effective campaign.”